At the heart of Dharavi are 20,000 mini-factories

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/nov/25/dharavi-mumbai-mini-factories-slum

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Dharavi, at the centre of Mumbai, is a world in itself, a treasure of skilled labourers that the outside world is largely unaware of. Among the clusters of beehive hutments are about 20,000 small-scale manufacturing units – including the workshop of Suresh Sonaji Gajakosh, who has lived here all his life.

Born to a family that has been in the leather business in Dharavi since the 1950s, Suresh and his brother Rajkumar took over the reins from their father, and in 1988 renamed it as Sonaji L Gajakosh & Sons. The infusion of young blood turned the firm towards new ideas and technology. Suresh and his brother moved away from traditional ways of making leather and adopted modern machinery. Today, their company produces leather clutch belts that are supplied to other retailers who in turn export them abroad. The Sonaji family went from their original 8x8ft manufacturing unit to a two-storey building with an annual turnover of 8m rupees (about £83,000) with almost no support from the government and terrible infrastructure.

“Dharavi is just a vote-bank for the politicians, which they cash during elections,” says Suresh. “Then everything is forgotten and we are back to square one. There are no proper roads or proper drainage systems. Electricity was once a major issue: with every power cut, companies had to bear losses. Ever since private power companies like Reliance have taken over the sector in Mumbai, this issue has been solved to some extent – but this is a hub of skilled labour that the government does not recognise. If the government had taken care of this place properly, it would not have been any less than a treasure for the country.”

Suresh has around 18 to 20 employees who both work and live in this two-storey unit, sharing rooms and the single bathroom. Two people share one 12x10ft room, while others sleep on the terrace. Some are paid weekly wages, others a monthly salary and a few on a contract basis; the salaries range from 6,000 to 15,000 rupees (£62-£155) per month.

“Every unit, big or small, has workers coming from all over the country,” he says. “I have labourers who are from Bihar and who have nothing in mind but work. All they think of is of working the whole day and night to earn livelihood for their family back home. All they require is a small space to work and sleep and a television set in the corner of the room.”

A glimpse around the other units in the vicinity paints a very depressing picture. Smaller units here have about four to five people sharing a tiny room of around 8x10ft. The working conditions are pathetic, to say the least, owing to poor civic infrastructure. People here often send money back home for schooling for their children, medication for their aged parents and food for their family.

With few public toilets and most people sharing common toilets with poor drainage, the area faces sanitation issues. During monsoons, some people work in knee-deep water. “A few years back, the government made a few corrections in the drainage system, and since then my unit does not face water-logging during monsoon, but there are still a few places that do,” Suresh said.

Child labour, Suresh admits, had been a problem in Dharavi, but in recent years the government has cracked down – though Suresh confesses that some people secretly still employ children. Regarding safety, Suresh says the area was notorious during the 1970s but today is one of the city’s safest. He proudly claims it is busy even at 2am, when you will still find people working.

In the five decades Suresh has lived in Dharavi, he has seen it transform from an open space to a maze of narrow alleys. While the population keeps growing, the roads and facilities remain the same. Clean drinking water is still a major problem. “For every application for a new water connection, the municipal authorities make the people run from pillar to post and harass us with numerous cumbersome procedures – and at the end, since the construction is not legal, we end up without getting any connection,” says one elderly female resident. “The people here then opt for an illegal connection. There have been instances where the municipal officials themselves have advised applicants not to go by the rule book, as they might end up getting nothing, but rather bribe them for an illegal water connection.”

“If ever the structures in Dharavi get legalised, along with better infrastructure, wider roads and drainage system, the land rate is sure to go high up,” Suresh says. “People might then get a legal connection for water and construct permanent structures, not just sheds.”

Most of Dharavi’s structures, residential or industrial, are unauthorised. “People like me who have their own land do not have to worry much, but people who don’t have it live in a fear of getting evicted by the government,” he says. “It is high time the government legalise all the industries here.” Most of that industry is the garment business, after the cattle sheds and slaughterhouses of the leatherworkers moved to Deonar. Suresh rents rooms in his small building to garment workers, who stitch, embroider and pack brand-name clothes to be sold in the neon-lit shops of the developed world.

Suresh’s brother Rajkumar was one of those who moved away from Dharavi. But, he says, “Even though I left, I still spend my whole day here in Dharavi managing our leather business. I moved for a better life for my children, but even today I and my family love the relations and bonding that we developed with the people here, and which unfortunately is totally missing in the posh societies outside.”

For a new government making all efforts to promote the manufacturing sector, it could do worse than start here.

This article was commissioned as part of the Guardian’s Citizen Reporting Programme.